Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse

Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse

Original - Collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, 1940.

Reason: One of the more spectacular engineering disasters to have been caught on film, this clip is a minor classic in its own right. From the article text: In 1998, The Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". This footage is still shown to engineering, architecture, and physics students as a cautionary tale. Fortunately no people were killed in the disaster, but a cocker spaniel was too frightened to leave the car that was stranded between the spans. So apologies for the rush of nominations these last couple of days, but I could hardly believe my eyes when I realized this video hadn't been an FPC yet.
Articles this image appears in: Tacoma Narrows Bridge
Creator: Barney Elliott (released public domain)

NOTE: The Tacoma Narrows actually failed due to Aeroelastic Flutter, not by resonance. See the page of this bridge Diego Torquemada (talk) 21:10, 18 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Support as nominator Durova^Charge! 00:07, 31 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Weak Support there is no doubt at all that this deserves an FA star, but I will state fir the record that having a guy whom I consider to be a pro with a camera on hand on the date of the incident is by a wide margin the least likely thing that could have happened here, and because of that I feel this vid segment should be treated with a grain of salt. TomStar81 (Talk) 02:10, 31 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
- The fellow who shot this was owner of a local camera shop. The bridge had been nicknamed "Galloping Gertie" by local residents because of its tendency to sway with the slightest breeze, and these appear to have been gale force winds. The film was used in newsreels, has been featured in university lectures for decades, and joined the National Film Registry list of important American cinema. Can you cite one source for this doubt about its authenticity? Durova^Charge! 03:12, 31 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - I am not doubting its authenticity (otherwise I would have opposed), what I am saying is that in a sense people should consider the fact an expert on cameras shot this and treat this as a unique instance of filming: obviously proffesional film guys are not on hand for every building collapse, bridge collapse, train derailment, 982 car pile up, etc. I say this largely because the I-95(?) bridge collapse in minnasota a few years back was captured by a Army Corps of Engineers survalience camera that happened to be looking that general direction, but when nominated for FP status people complained that it didn't measure up to the tacoma footage. I am merely noting here, as I did there, that this was shot a profesional and that such occurances are very rare, and that because of that I tend to be a little bais against the image because I feel it was, in a sense, "staged". TomStar81 (Talk) 03:25, 31 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    - Ah, I understand better now. This bridge had only stood for four months. So the local residents had reason to doubt that it would last. Clearly Mr. Elliott knew how to frame a shot. Looks like he saw an opportunity to shoot something significant and leaped at it; it's not as if he worked for a news service. Durova^Charge! 03:51, 31 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    - WTF? --jjron (talk) 07:25, 31 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    - I agree with Jjron. WTF? It doesn't matter in the slightest whether the cameraman was professional or not, it only matters if it is freely available and of high quality/significance. Anyway, how do you stage a bridge collapse? Diliff | (Talk) (Contribs) 15:53, 31 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  - I am the only person in this community who has scene a hollywood movie!? Sheesh, people, go forth and live a little for pete's sake, and then come back and see if it doesn't look just a little bit like something you would see in a Jerry Bruckimer film. And I take the oppurtunity to point out that I didn't oppose the nomination, I just wanted people to put the quality of this film into context. Thats all, nothing more and nothing less. TomStar81 (Talk) 21:17, 1 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    - Let's take this to talk. Durova^Charge! 21:45, 1 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    - Ah, now I get it - Conspiracy theory. --jjron (talk) 05:33, 3 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support - this is an iconic piece of footage that is widely used as an example of wind induced mechanical resonance in bridges. - Peripitus (Talk) 03:18, 31 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

NOTE: The Tacoma Narrows actually failed due to Aeroelastic Flutter, not by resonance. See the page of this bridge Diego Torquemada (talk) 21:10, 18 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Support Highly encyclopedic. Good find! Clegs (talk) 03:29, 31 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Strong Support; regardless of who filmed this video, it is definitely of great encyclopedic value. I saw this video back in the 1990s and it piqued my interest. Anyone who has never seen this video would definitely be interested to watch the whole length of it. It is also a reminder to us that suspension bridges aren't that easy to build. -- Altiris Helios Exeunt 06:53, 31 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support per nom. Cacophony (talk) 08:09, 31 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Strong support per nom. I had no idea that this footage was in the public domain-- the collapse was in 1940. Spikebrennan (talk) 14:19, 31 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support per nom. Rudy Breteler (talk) 22:04, 1 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Strong support per the reasons that TomStar81 used for only giving weak support, the Jerry Bruckheimer comments especially, because it's actual footage and really old as well. It's not like anybody could stage this by jumping up and down on the bridge or something like that. -- I. Pankonin (t·c) 10:21, 2 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
SupportRyan shell (talk) 15:14, 2 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support Great historic value. faithless (^speak) 05:53, 3 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Strong support This is one of my favorite clips of all time. It is extremely encyclopedia-worthy. Enough said. TheOtherSiguy (talk) 16:36, 3 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support Encyclopedic footage of a historical event. Purple Is Pretty (talk) 23:51, 3 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support I would of course a featured media page for vids but that not being relevant support since this is an extremely good video of an exceedingly encyclopedic topic. Cat-five - talk 02:27, 4 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support I think this is so obvious. -- RM 04:07, 7 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Tacoma Narrows Bridge destruction.ogv MER-C 08:10, 7 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]